Jared Allen is a staunch advocate for military veterans. He has toured war zones in Iraq, and his Homes for Wounded Warriors charity helps build handicap-accessible houses for returning soldiers -- ample credibility for the Vikings' star pass rusher to borrow an infantry grunt's credo when asked how he approaches games in a lost season.

"You play for the guy next to you. You honestly do," Allen said Thursday.

With a 1-5 record and a raging case of quarterback controversy grabbing headlines, Allen and longtime teammates such as Kevin Williams, Chad Greenway and Brian Robison have become subplots in someone else's story.

"Kevin and Chad and B-Rob and I were talking the other day: People you're friends with, you might have only played with in college for a couple years, or four years," he said. "I've been around most of these guys in this locker room for six years, day in and day out for six months straight, so you build bonds, and that's what you come to work for.

"You come to work to play for the next guy."

In preparation for Sunday night's NFC North matchup against the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings have reduced their unenviable state to its narrowest form, using the daily grind of film study and practice to correct mistakes, of which there are plenty, and rebuild waning confidence.

Returning to the postseason is unlikely, not with the losses piling up and games dwindling.

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Uncertainty at quarterback is a ceaseless topic. Coaching and front-office job security is being questioned.

With so many troubles capbable of beating a team down, circling the wagons in the locker room is the only recourse.

"When things suck, which they do right now, you've got to come to work and play for the next guy," said Allen. "They're counting on me to do my job, and the Wilfs pay me to go out there and play hard every Sunday and try to win football games, so that's the mind-set you've got to have.

"I told you guys the other day: as long as we mathematically still have a chance, we've got to keep fighting. And even (when you don't), you've got to fight to the end of the season, you know? But there's nothing to say that we can't right this ship and we can't get on a winning streak, because we've done it in the past. We've just got more games we need to win this time."

Allen has experienced plenty over six seasons with the Vikings: 50 victories and 52 losses, two NFC North titles, an overtime loss with a Super Bowl berth on the line, Brett Favre's will-he-or-won't-he sagas, Brad Childress' firing, Leslie Frazier's ascension and nine starting quarterbacks.

Williams has seen even more; the 11-year veteran is Minnesota's longest-tenured player.

After taking a pay cut to return in 2013, Williams knows better than most his role as a defensive tackle is to fill running lanes and rush the passer -- nothing more, nothing less.

"One thing you learn, this is a business. You do your job and let the people in the front office do theirs," he said. "As much as you think things ought to be a certain way, you're paid to play football and they're paid to make decisions. You can't dictate how that goes."

Through six games, Adrian Peterson is on pace to finish with 1,363 yards -- a 35 percent drop from his historic 2,097-yard breakthrough in 2012. He is coming off a season-low 28-yard performance against the Giants, nursing a hamstring injury and poised to miss the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.

Subdued by those hard facts, Peterson was unwilling Thursday to broaden his outlook on the chaos swirling about the quarterback position or the direction of the franchise.

"I don't know. I try to stay in the now," he told reporters. "Right now, we're getting ready to play the Packers. It's a chance to get a 'W,' get our first win at home and keep our hopes alive. I try not to think ahead, even though we do it at times. But at this point in time, I'm not looking ahead.

"I feel like it's definitely a must-win, and I'm sure the other guys feel that way as well. It's a divisional game. It's a home game, and we're 1-5. We need to pull out everything that we can."

As if there were not enough problems, Peterson's slowdown and the offensive line's inability to clear running lanes for its most explosive playmaker is an unexpected regression which has accelerated Minnesota's downfall.

After the loss to the Giants, Peterson called out the five returning starters who created so many holes last season for not playing physical enough.

"You know, that's the MVP of the NFL, so I'm going to take his advice," said Pro Bowl left tackle Matt Kalil. "We're pretty tough on ourselves as critics, so I don't think anyone is going to give any harsher judgment than we do on ourselves. We know we have to be more physical and maintain our blocks and he can run with the ball and do what he does best."

With a franchise-record 161 starts at defensive tackle, Williams has a healthy perspective on what might be his final season in Minnesota, no matter the team's record or circumstances.

"I love my job," he said. "I'm doing it to the highest ability, and I'm going to continue to do that no matter what. We can't go any lower. They can't take that one win away."